Fate Future Reality
by Tribunal
Summary: Our familiar friends fifteen years from now. Things start to go awry despite fifteen years of peace. Chapter 6 uploaded. Spoilers. Of which the Avatar is evolving.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own FSN and FHA, but the plot is largely mine, although some parts of it are definitely not mine as well. They will be acknowledged at the bottom of each chapter.

**Chapter 1- Fifteen Years Later**

Once upon a time, there was a quiet little town in Japan known as Fuyuki, and there were three little families that laid side by side of each other. The first one was a pretty nice little house, the last two were large mansions, one with the letterbox named "Tohsaka" and the other named "Matou".

One day, in the small house, a little girl with blonde hair asked if she could play with the boy from next door.

A large man with white hair replied, "Alright, then, Mordred. I'll ask your mom if she permits. Arturia?"

A beautiful woman with long and similar blonde hair replied, "Yes, Shiro?"

"Our little girl wants to play with Eriol."

"Alright, but do return home before dinner, will you?" She said to the little child.

"Thanks, mom," she said before kissing her mother on her cheek.

"Now, be a good girl and go along with your father," she replied.

And so, the little girl jumped onto his father's shoulders without much help from her father and Shiro immediately dashed away at lightning speed, passing by a mailbox named "Emiya".

xxx

While they dashing out of the door, Mordred told her father, "Dad, I have gotten full marks for all my exams!"

"Really? Then well done, Mordred." He replied with an encouraging tone.

He sighed in glee as he zoomed pass the corner that would bring them to the Tohsaka mansion. His little girl has certainly inherited her mother's intellect and his analysis skills. But there was something that he had still not seen her perform yet.

Whether she had inherited their fighting skills.

xxx

"Coming," Tohsaka Rin replied when she felt Shiro and Mordred coming through the barrier of her mansion.

She had changed a lot since the past fifteen years. She had totally disregarded her past tomboyish and girlish looks, and now looked a lot like her mother in many different aspects. Her hair now flows straight down her shoulders. She wore simple dresses now, instead of the outrageous miniskirts she wore ten years ago.

And when she opened the door, she muttered in a rather soft voice, "Oh, so it's Shiro-kun and little Mordred. Well, how have you two been doing?"

"I am fine, Aunty Rin. Can I play with Eriol?"

"Sure, why not?" she said before calling, "Eriol! (Yes Mom?) Mordred has come to play with you."

"I am coming down," he replied before immediately teleporting next to his mother.

"Good evening, Uncle Shiro!" He chirped before saying, "Hi, Mordred."

Mordred replied with a wave of her hands.

"Can we go out to the playground to play?" Both of them asked their parents.

Shiro and Rin both nodded before Rin added, "Do be careful, though."

The two happy little children simply ran out of the door.

xxx

So Shiro and Rin simply sat down at two ends of a table, decorated by a basket of flowers. Shiro could tell that the flowers had been reinforced and were watered daily to make them look healthy everyday.

"Well, Rin, it has been quite a while, isn't it?"

"Yes, it has been quite a while, Shiro-kun. And it had been ten years since that, right?"

"Yes, it is certain that it has been ten years since _that_. The rite. It comes in different forms, and it will tell if the person is cut out enough to fulfill a role as a master. Still, I don't see how Kirei Kotomine got his role, though."

Rin responded with a laugh, but then sighed and continued, "I do hope they can pass that trial. The very ticket to their future lives as Masters."

Shiro sighed as well. "You're right. I have never always seen her fight before, although I did teach her all the lessons I can about _Tracing_. Although... it does wonders me to how she will fare in that."

Rin continued, "I have taught him the same amount of magic I studied when I was sixteen. And he's eight. When I tested him on all the magic terms and usage, he seemed to remember all of them. But still, I am not certain. People tend to forget about things when they are nervous."

While nodding his head, Shiro said, "Yes, you are right, Rin. Still, Arturia does not seem to be wavering in her confidence in both of their performances. Perhaps she is right about it."

"Yes, hopefully."

"Be optimistic, Rin. We have done everything we possibly can to help them. Now they are on their own."

Rin sighed again. "I hope you are right, Shiro-kun. Something else though, gives me a feeling that gets on my nerves."

xxx

Meanwhile, back at the Emiya Residence, Arturia (Saber) Emiya was busy preparing dinner. As she was cutting the onions, a little scene played back in her mind.

_Back then, she was still learning how to cook. Shiro had been the most patient to her. He stood behind her and helped her in anyway he could. While she had learnt how to cook food and how to fine-tune her art of wielding blades (that is, to cut vegetables properly without looking like a butcher), she still had much to learn._

_This time, she was cutting onions. However, it always seemed that she could not help but shed tears when she cut the onions. Then, Shiro, who had been behind her all the time, said, "Arturia, when you cut vegetables, it helps to put the onions in the water. That prevents all the irritants that the onions emit from irritating your eyes. That said, unless you want to wear a gas mask everytime you cut them?"_

_She stifled a laugh and prepared a bowl of water to cut the onions in._

She sighed and looked up at the clock. 5 pm. Just five more minutes before the rite will occur. Throughout the course of Mordred's life, she infused into her many lessons on close combat, just as Shiro was teaching her how to _Trace_.

However, just as she seemed confident of things, there were many thoughts on her mind.

First of all, she had not seen her _Trace_ a weapon. And Eriol had not even reached the age to legally summon weapons. Would they be defeated simply due to the lack of weapons?

Mordred might be good with swords, but all this time, she had been developing a style suited to be on par against her mother. Shiro had not parred with her once. Could she be defeated by her own techniques? And there was the question about her personality. She was outgoing and kept her head cool all the time, and argued frequently, but never resorted to violence, even for last resorts, except for certain times. Would her personality be her worst nemesis?

Arturia's head buzzed with pain at all these overwhelming thoughts. That said, she decided to continue to cook to swirl all these thoughts away. And yet, whether it was fate or any other god, he decided to continue to play with her.

At first, when she was walking around the kitchen, preparing all the food, the straps on her sandals snapped. Arturia was rather worried, but dismissed it as a coincidential accident after a while. Then, when a green bowl slipped out of her hand and broke upon impact onto the floor, she was getting paranoid but dismissed that due to the water on her hands making them more prone to slipping out. She calmed herself by stating that bad omens are results of everyday life that happens with scientific reasoning and any accidential results are purely coincidental.

But when all of a sudden, she heard crows from a nearby tree flying away in a flock with a loud cry, she muttered, "Oh my," which was had been a charateristic of hers during the last five years, that a straw had broken the camel's back. Something told her that something was going very wrong. Her mind was swirling within a confusion; her mind trying to react with the best plan to solve the problem. At last, she came to a resolution.

'It might not be the best method,' she thought, 'but it would be the safest.'

She immediately went rushing towards the Tohsaka mansion, uncertain of the fate that was unfolding for her daughter.

xxx

A woman with long, white hair dressed in black church robes was sitting in front of the gigantic pipe organ playing a fast Baroque piece whose melody vaguely resembles that of Dancing Mad. Her touch of the keys were graceful despite the mad nature of the song; her face angelic, and yet, a piece of the red ribbon untidily tucked into her side pockets showing out seemed to contradict the above points.

When she released the last note, a woman with purple hair walked into the church clapping and smiling while saying, "Bravo, Caren. Good to see you."

Caren Ortensia promptly stood up, turned around and smiled. She asked, "So, Bazett, is the examinor ready?"

"Yes. My son has taken Age Altering Mushrooms and is ready to go."

"So, who are the enemies?"

"A group of rogue magicians who have been hired to do the job. They have rather amateurish levels of magical skill."

"Perfect. And now it is 5.04 pm. Give them the orders to attack the target when the minute's hand reaches '1'."

"Understood. I do wonder how Mordred Emiya and Eriol Tohsaka will fare though. So far, only three magus have succeeded."

xxx

Meanwhile, Mordred and Eriol were racing through the roads to get to the playground in record time. Mordred, personally trained to excel in speed by her mother, was undoubtedly faster than Ariel, even though he was reinforcing his legs to perform better.

When they turned at the corner, Mordred taunted, "Eriol, aren't boys supposed to run faster, even without any spells or that sort of thing?"

"What do you know about it, Mordred?" Eriol yelled in a moderate tone back at her. "First, you were trained to do this everyday since three. I wasn't. Second, you inherited your speed from Aunty Arturia, while my mom does not have any talent in speed. Third... third... third... argh! Don't care about it!"

"Fine, by my means anyway, although I don't see anything wrong with that though..." Mordred replied, raising Eriol's anger by another margin more. But he kept quiet for the rest of the way though.

On the way, they met Aunty Sakura and Aunty Rider. They seemed to be going to the Tohsaka mansion as well.

"Good evening, Aunty Sakura and Aunty Rider." Both of them chirped.

"Well, good evening, Mordred and Eriol. You two are going out again, aren't you?"

Both of them nodded.

"Well, we must be going now, shouldn't we, Rider? We still have to help Rin-oneechan and Arturia with the dinner."

"Beware of kidnappers, though, Mordred and Ariel. I heard that they kidnap children with no parents near them during the evening and at night. Be on your toes," Rider commented.

In response, the children looked at each other quizzically before passing it as another of Aunty Rider's 'Usual Cryptic Remarks' while Sakura chided, "Rider!"

"Just a joke, you two little ones. Now go on and return by dinnertime or else your mommies will scold you."

Both of them nodded at Aunty Rider's words before dashing off again.

"Now aren't those two very energetic?" Rider said.

"You nearly slipped just now, you know, Rider?" Sakura replied.

"Yes, I know, but just a word of caution in case kidnappers do turn up. Those are just amateur magus. Anything can go wrong."

"But won't there be the video player at Rin-oneechan's house?"

"Through my experience, such things are not to be trusted. Even my trusty chains sometimes do go wrong."

"Rider!" Sakura chided her ex-servant at her pessimistic implication.

"Well, at least they do know how to match against magus, at least, right?" Rider replied.

Sakura sighed and said, "You're probably right."

xxx

A/N: Well, talk about an information-packed first chapter. Well, here are all the facts in this story.

Mordred: King Arthur's daughter. Seems like Shiro wanted her history to come alive again or something.

Eriol: From Card Captor Sakura Season 2. Otherwise known as 'The Reincarnation of Clow Reed'. In this story, he is to be implied to be a great magus, to be even better than Rin herself in the future.

Dancing Mad: Song from Final Fantasy 6.

Red Ribbon: Caren's ability, should be something that will keep demons tightly bound or something like that. Forgot its name (argh).

Age Altering Mushrooms: From Ranma 1/2. In the manga, Ranma and Ryouga are said to have taken these mushrooms by accident and turned younger. The mushroom will change a person to the age equivalent to the height of the mushroom. Bazett's son has taken it for the fitting of the examinor's role.

A/N: Many thanks to crazymaneesh, who pointed out the error in Eriol's name. Now all errors in this name have been edited.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own FSN and FHA, but the plot is largely mine, although some parts of it are definitely not mine as well. They will be acknowledged at the bottom of each chapter.

**Chapter 2- Before the Storm**

Rin could never forget the time she had gone through the Rite of Masters twenty four years ago. As much as it was a distant memory, it remained fresh in her mind.

_It had been a few days since her father had died, a month since her mother had disappeared, a few months since her sister Sakura had been separated from her. _

_She was walking in the dimly-lit streets of Fuyuki city, __**alone**__, clutching a few sheets of paper that would keep her company._

_The sky was turning grey, wind was howling furiously, constantly blowing the sheets of paper in her arms many times, which she gave up trying to take back after a while._

_The tall brick walls around her started to make her claustrophobic. The streets lamps were towering above her, making the walls feel impossibly high to climb. _

_All she wanted to do now was to get out of the maze. And yet, she did not learn the levitation jinx. Now, she cursed herself for not learning the practical spells first, and instead followed her father's instructions and learnt all the combat moves. Her father had died a few days ago; did it matter to her to strictly follow his tutoring? Was he going to be the one who would determine her destiny for her? _

_No, no, and thousands of times no._

_And yet, deep inside her heart, she had a feeling that he was always right. Somehow. _

_Through the course of the spending some valuable time with him, she realised how well-planned her father was. During a shopping trip with her mother, a snatch-thief managed to grab hold of her mother's purse even in the busy streets of Fuyuki Mall. Everything that he planned was exact; his escape route was pathed for him, and yet, his planned was ruined by a simple Electric charm on the purse cast by her father. Once he had touched the purse, the charm activated, as the snatch-thief had no identity of a magus, and soon, the thief found himself shocked and tempoarily paralyzed as the police took over._

_As she continued to trudge back home, the storm clouds could hold no longer and it started to rain. Heavily. _

_Lightning struck, thunder raged, and she was petrified. Not due to the rain, nor due to the lightning or thunder. But due to footsteps, slowly moving towards her. As far as she could tell, they were mages, and would not be a usual punchover like the gangsters she managed to encounter two days back. _

_No. They were on a whole new level as so to speak. _

_And they were definitely hostile. She felt them holding their weapons; tracking her down for a minute or so. She wanted to just sit by a corner and cry towards the cruel world on why her family would be apart in just months. She wanted... she wanted to hide. To lead a normal live. And if she had the choice, she would have preferred her family have nothing to do with magic. _

_She turned around the corner and grabbed her heart-shaped ruby necklace, ready to ambush the mages to have a headstart on them. They suspected nothing until it was too late, as three of them were magically blasted into the wall without any mercy, all three out cold, while the remaining two were chasing her._

_'Shoot... I ran out mana. How long can I run before I collapse? What will those two mages do to me?' she thought, as she continued running._

_She continued running, running through the rain in a pace that was fast for humans but physically demanding as well. She strained her muscles to continue running, and fell down several times, but kept on. Tears were flowing down her eyes as she ran. She could not understand why her mother; her father; her sister or her teacher, Kirei Kotomine, would not be there with her when she was in so much trouble. It quickly took a toll on her, severely diminishing her confidence by a whole rank._

_Finally, when she was panting heavily, she looked back. The mages were far behind her. She heaved a sigh of relief before she ran forward..._

_...Right into a dead end._

_Alas, as she turned around, the two mages caught up and surrounded her. Her body was quivering in exhaustion and from the cold, and she was petrified and could not work out a strategy to outsmart the two mages. The end seemed imminent. Would she, Tohsaka Rin, simply succumb to her fate like the rest of her family members?_

_'Father... Mother... Sakura... I will finally be able to join you...'_

_And yet, her sense of longing did not last long. Something had broken her sense of imagined ecstasy; relief. It was the fact that they were nowhere near heaven right now. Her father... was consumed during the War of the Holy Grail, and was nowhere up there or down there. Her mother had disappeared, but she doubted that she was at all, dead. Sakura had been given to the Matous, but she doubted that Sakura would not receive the care of her new brother and grandfather, despite whatever plans they had for her. Uncle Kaiya tried to win her back, but despite his failure, she knew that Sakura was being cared for._

_And in the first place, had she already succumbed to her fate? Yes, she had. When her family separated within months, her gloom of depression took over without warning, causing catastrophic results on her studies, and even more problems psychologically. The bullies that she met two days ago were simply beaten to a pulp by her bare hands. She even did not need the use of magic to punish them. There she was, succumbed to her own depression, succumbed to her fate. _

_With all the courage she could muster, she vowed that she will take whatever it takes to change her fate. _

_But there was still a problem with the mages. She had no more mana reserves left with her, and having learnt almost nothing in combat magic, she simply was no match for both of them. But soon, she realised she still had a chance of victory. It was risky, but often times, risk in a sticky situation proved valuable. _

_She decided to give it a shot._

_As the two mages charged towards her for their final attack, focusing all their energies onto their hands to deliver a powerful blow, Rin concentrated all her hostility and depression into her index finger. Her eyes blurred; she lost control, and light began to show her curcuits, but what came out was not holy at all. _

_One of the mages gasped in shock and stopped his attack in the midst of his own disturbance. It was his own hesitation that defeated him. Her powerful shots simply weakened him until he collapsed onto the floor and could only speak. _

_"Gandr... no way... it cannot be..."_

_The other, however, was more ruthless and as Rin shot her Gandr at him, he ducked, and with a powerful swipe of his arm he slammed all his energy into her abdomen, and sent her flying right into the wall. There was a rather large crater caused by the huge impact, and Rin was bleeding profusely from many major injuries. As she fell, her body quivered and her teeth were biting against each other in pain. When she reached the ground, she tilted to the corner of the end of the wall, and was presumably unconscious._

_The magus sighed and talked inside his Radio Transmitter. _

_"Subject 215- Tohsaka Rin. Failed by a small margin. Will not be joining the War of the Holy Grail."_

_It was then that Rin snapped back to reality. The Holy Grail War? It was the Rite of Masters. Now it made all sense to her. _

_She could wish for her family's encounters to change, for Sakura to be with her, for her father and mother to be alive and with her... She could change her fate._

_She stirred, and as the magus was taken by surprise, blasted another few Gandr shots at him. He was knocked unconscious as the transmitter spoke, "215, 215, are you there?"_

_She promptly picked it up and smirked, before speaking, "Subject 215- Tohsaka Rin. All clear. Will be joining the War of the Holy Grail."_

_The person at the other end let out a tiny gasp and sounded rather frightened, before she hung up. _

_That was it. She was going into the war eight years later and will bring home the Grail. And she could finally wish for her happiness. It would just take 8 years' worth of effort. But nothing more._

_The sense of triumph engulfed her as she slowly shuffled back home, despite having so much blood lost and open wounds, she was numb. _

_But it would be eight years later before her life would change again, this time, by a few words that someone had said._

_"If you wish for the past to be changed, then all those lives lost, suffering and memories of it would be of no purpose..."_

Rin sighed as she looked out at the window, seeing the same dark image as she encountered twenty four years back. And this time, it seemed worse than before. She stroked her hair uneasily.

xxx

"Rin-oneechan? Are you home?" Sakura asked.

"Coming..." Rin said as she slowly walked towards the door and opened it...

And there was a supposed 16-year old Teutonic girl bundled in some thick clothing sitting on a formidable grey giant; in other words, Ilya and Berserker, and Lancer came along with Bazett, the latter whom simply said, "Good afternoon, Rin. Hope we have not missed anything?" and there was her sister Sakura and her servant Rider, with Fuji-nee.

"Come on in, you guys," Rin gestured casually as the crowd settled in her large mansion, which could hold everyone, except Berserker, who simply had to crouch down.

"Sorry, Berserker, it will have to do," Ilyasviel said, "If not we will have to pay for the damages in Rin-oneechan's house." The giant replied by simply exhaling a puff of air.

Rin took the chance to see how her usual friends and relatives changed since the last fifteen years.

Illyasviel von Einzbern was becoming much like her mother. Even though she was thirty-two this year, her body and her mindset reflected that of a sixteen-year-old child. She was dressed in a medium-sized Teutonic hat and was wearing a casual red dress. Berserker was about the same as usual, except that he had become more morose than ever since the last fifteen years as it seems. Fuji-nee was basically the same, still dressed in the striped dress, but she was getting on in ages and was not prone to over-reacting with Ilya around.

Her sister Sakura still had purple eyes and purple hair, a result of Zouken Matou's wicked experiments. However, she could see that she was regaining part of her original brown hair back, as part of the infested worms within her die away. That made her glad. Her ex-servant, Rider, is still pretty much the same History teacher she used to know, but being nearly forty she has become a little grumpier, perhaps due to Souichiro Kuzuki being in the same office.. Bazett and Lancer were still the same; except that they were not as argumentative as they once were since fifteen years ago.

She sighed. How she had missed the good ol' days. Yet, now, it was her son's turn and she was determined to make his the best it can be.

xxx

Arturia Emiya dashed down the lonely alleys towards Rin's house, uncertain of the future in hold for her daughter. She had this feeling before once in her previous life, and the results were not a sight to behold, at all.

But then, as she went further down the street, things started without a hint. Arturia felt the presence of a demonic presence, but when she turned around, the only person she could see was...

...Her shadow materialising itself to manifest into another being.

Her heart skipped a beat as the the shadow turned into a darker figure of herself in full body armour. There was a tainted aura of what was supposed to be her sense of justice around her, like her own justice aura.

Of course, hers was not impaired. An sense of animosity was in the air as Arturia changed into her full body armour and wielded Caliburn in a flash.

They charged towards each other as the dark Saber started to summon the evil version of Excalibur. While Arturia summoned Avalon, the Saber suddenly used Invisible Air instead and it knocked Arturia, who had only half-summoned the scabbard, to the ground.

"Damn it... how can it change weapons so fast?" she asked herself as she got up and wiped the blood off her mouth.

The Saber dashed towards her with Invisible air in hand, while Arturia jumped and landed a killing blow of Excalibur to it. Her shadow dissolved and turned back into the way it was before.

As Arturia unsummoned her blade and continued to walk on, a few questions surfaced onto her mind.

"What is the thing that attacked me? Is a sort of a spell or a mythical creature? If it was summoned, what is its agenda?"

xxx

As Mordred and Eriol continued to run towards the playground, they heard a cry.

A small boy of age 6 was sitting on the floor, crying. He seems to be of Irish origin as he had purple hair like Aunty Bazette and Uncle Lancer's, Mordred noted.

Eriol approached him and asked, "What happened?"

The boy kept on crying but managed to speak between words: "They... wanted... to kidnap... me..." as he pointed towards a group of what seemed to be like rogue magicians.

Mordred burned in anger. Why would people want to kidnap children? Don't they realise that it is not fair for a child to be forcefully removed from a parent like that? As she burned with anger, she _traced_ a small blade and charged towards the enemy. As furiously as she fought, the enemies kept up with her by dodging, albeit barely. They taunted, "Is that the best you can get, little child?"

Eriol had wanted to stop Mordred but sighed as he instead blasted _Gandr_ shots at the men, who fell one by one due to his attacks. However, that seemed to be only the beginning. The rogue mages fought back, this time using spells that blasted lightning everywhere.

Mordred was hit several times by the powerful spells and collapsed while Eriol rushed over to help her up.

"Elementary spell: Lightning Bolt. I thought that you could dodge those," he said cooly as Mordred immediately dashed to attack them, only to be stopped a second later by another barrage of spells.

Eriol sighed at his friend, who was continuously being injured. "Why was she so stubborn? Why did she want to stop the mages that badly? Is it because of the child?" As he saw her using her blade as a leverage support to help her up, Eriol said, "Stay back... this will turn ugly."

He took a small pocket knife and made a small cut in his finger. A drop of blood dripped out, and instead of falling to the ground due to gravity, it floated up and became into a powerful energy swirling around his fist. He dashed towards the mages, who were taken aback by surprise by the powerful technique.

"The Pact of Blood?"

"No way!"

"I thought that was so powerful the magus academy banned it!"

Eriol punched three of the men to fly towards the wall, but the fourth men casted 'Ice Fist' (which was a rather bad misnomer for it, for it turned out to look like an icicle more than anything else) and stabbed through his chest. Eriol quivered as the mage picked him up from the ground violently and threw him onto the ground near Mordred. Around him, a pool of blood started to form as she noted that the icicle the man summoned was also stained crimson.

In horror, Mordred gasped, "Eriol!" Her friend had become injured all because of her own actions and attitude. That was something that she would not have forgiven herself for.

As she limped towards the injured boy, the remaining two mages casted more Lightning Bolts at Mordred, who incredibly dodged them despite her battered body. However, just as a Lightning Bolt hit her and caused her to fall down, Eriol looked on. He could not help but worry what would become of them both. And yet, Mordred held on, dragging herself towards him with her two hands. Despite all the more Lightning Bolts that hit her, Mordred held on, albeit pained till tears in her eyes.

Eriol was touched. He did not know that Mordred treasured him as a friend that much. He also did the same, slowly inching his way towards her, as he concentrated all his energy in his hand.

Finally... it seemed eons to them... but finally, they reached each other, hand in hand.

"Mordred..."

"Eriol..."

"Mordred, take this energy with you... this will help you get up and defeat the two of... them..."

As Eriol transfered mana to her, he fainted. Mordred stood up, angered, saddened. This time, she was even more regretful that Eriol had done this much to atone for her own mistake of initiating the mages.

She wanted...

Revenge!

Her eyes were hidden behind her blonde hair. She shook in her depression as a red runic blade materialised into her stained hand. She gripped onto the blade uneasily as she jumped up and shouted a fierce battle cry.

"Excalibur!"

The powerful red energy emitted by the blade was more than sufficient to knock out the remaining two mages. Eriol, meanwhile, was stunned by the powerful attack. The red energy rushed up high into the sky, where it looked like a large red column.

xxx

Arturia Emiya looked up into the sky after hearing Mordred's shout nearby. She was relieved and at the same time, shocked to see the power of Mordred's Excalibur.

"Mordred..." she muttered, as she watched on until the energy dissipated.

As much as she was happy that Mordred and Eriol had passed the rite, she was at the same time, unexplainably, sad. The energy of Excalibur had been known to pass the mood of the user to anyone who were near enough to feel the effects of the blast. She sighed as she rushed towards the scene.

xxx

Mordred looked around her as the energy around her dissipated.

'No magus... no enemies... the boy is safe... all is... well...'

Her eyes closed and she leaned forward towards the ground, joining into a deep slumber which she had deserved. Eriol got up and walked towards her as the little boy stood up and bowed towards the both of them.

"Thank you..." he said before he ran off. Eriol forced a smile onto his face. He observed his friend carefully.

She was sleeping peacefully, like an angel. As much as he had not wanted to admit, she had indeed done the right thing. Even though the sacrifice between them two might have been a little too great.

Just then, he saw a familiar figure in the distance.

"Aunty Arturia..."

Arturia was a little gloomy and her head looked down.

"... Well done. You two have passed the rite of Masters."

Eriol seemed confused.

She carried her sleeping daughter on her back while Eriol followed her. Arturia sighed. Today had been a bad and strange day for the three of them.

But it was all over.

xxx

But Arturia was very wrong in that too...

xxx

A/N: Well, this had been quite tough to write, but I have to say that I managed. All right... just drop me some comments then.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: The Avatar of Eternity

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Inside the church, Caren Ortensia was playing the organ madly like a virtuoso. When the sky turned red momentarily before regaining its orange hue, she stopped.

"Looks like those two are in the war," a man stepped out from the shadows.

The priestess sighed and ackowledged, "Father."

Kirei Kotomine was dressed in his 'father' robes. Although he was getting on age, he still seemed as young as thirty.

"Hmm? You do not seem pleased to see your father, don't you?" He taunted.

"What are you here for? Get out!" Caren snapped back as she drew out Magdala as a form of defence. Kirei drew out three 'Black Keys'. Tension between father and daughter was raising to an all-high. Finally, after a few moments, Caren relented and withdrew Magdala.

"Tell me, father, what are you here for? Surely it is not to just pick a fight?"

Kirei took a seat at one of the wooden chairs near the organ and replied, "Nothing to do with that. Even if I did that, your servant would have killed me if I laid a finger on you, my child."

Caren twitched her eyebrows angrily in response as Avenger appeared beside her.

Kirei continued, "Well, read about the facts yourself. I have no time to lose," as he tossed Caren a yellow file with only a few sheets in it and walked out of the church. "Good luck. You will need it," he added as he disappeared behind the shadows once again.

"Oh, that was uncool," Avenger muttered, "How did he found out that I was going to punch him?"

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Souichiro-sama, would you wait a moment for me?"

Medea was closing her cafe for a day. While the quiet History Teacher did not like to waste time, he made exceptions for his love. Medea had been a caring wife for the past ten years and he felt that it was the only way he could return her love.

Souichiro Kuzuki recounted their first encounter in front of his house, the Ryoshouji Temple. She had lost a large reserve of mana since her escape from her previous master and was bound to disappear. He made a pact with her even though he knew that she was likely to be only using him.

"Souichiro-sama, thank you for waiting. Shall we move on?"

"Mm," he muttered as they continued walking towards the Temple.

And yet, as if on cue, it started to rain. The air was filled with the sound of raindrops and the soft roaring of distant thunder.

Souichiro looked up. "Mm? what a time to start raining," he said.

Medea summoned an umbrella and one appeared in her hand instantly. She handed it to Souichiro, smiling.

"Thank you, Medea," he said as they walked down the street in the rain, hand in hand.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Arturia was walking in the rain, with Eriol walking beside her and her daughter, Mordred, on her back.

To her, rain was a sort of turmoil, where it seemed to affect her feelings even more. She was depressed even further. It seemed as though the people in the skies only treat it as a drama or a comedy. Whenever every battle was fought and she had won, she would gaze down to analyse the current situation of the war. However, every time she did so, it rained. She spotted bodies of both comrades and enemies. Her victorious stand would disappear. Her triumph within would vanish. To her, if lives were lost because she could not save them, she felt no better. Especially in a war, where lives were lost unnecessarily.

But to her, rain was also a sort of hope, where the wish for a brighter day, for a better future, for a better age, awaits. At the same time as she was solemn for the lives lost, she was hopeful. It seemed as though the people in the skies were cooling them down, helping them get over their grief. Water from rain is the source of all life. Whether or not physically or psychologically.

This time, it would be the same.

The melancholy that arose from this situation was unbearably high. Through Mordred's Excalibur, she could feel her daughter's limitless depression. When the rain came, the mood was raised to an even higher peak, and yet at the same time, lowered to a bearable state. It was like a sanctuary; one would seek the answers to his problems there. Similarly, she would, in the rain.

She had only wished that her daughter would do the same. Even though she believed things would come to an end before next year's War of the Holy Grail, she had a feeling it was not the end of her problems.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Alas, Rin felt Arturia, Mordred and Eriol pass by the boundaries of the forcefield.

As much as she had wanted to congratulate them and receive them in open arms, she had felt the depression in Mordred's powerful Excalibur, and was unable to do so. When they reached the door, she said "Coming!" and with the snap of her fingers, the door opened.

Arturia greeted Rin and asked if she could use the emergency bed. When Rin gave her consent, she rushed her daughter to the nearest bed. Shiro rushed up as well. She sighed as Eriol approached her today and told him with a smile, "You did great today in the Rite. Making a high-risk move. The one that got both of you and both of you in the War."

Eriol pretended that he had not heard that. He did not like the idea that his friend had plunged deep into despair despite the fact that it was fake. Of course, he did not know it then, but he figured out that the mages could have just cast a spell and the boy would be down in an instant. There was no chance the boy could have gotten that far.

And speaking of the boy, who was he? Why did he seem so familiar to him?

But when he saw Aunty Bazett and Uncle Lancer having a conversation with Ilya-oneechan, he felt a tinge of familiarity.

Bazett's son, Edward McRemitz.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Gilgamesh was walking down the street with an umbrella in hand.

During the last fifteen years, he had become a star in Fuyuki, known as 'The Guy Who Can Charm A Thousand Ladies'. Of course, that was only when he signed up for an application for the media.

To say the least, he was rather pleased with himself that day, as he was supposed to act as a Greek warrior and proved to the director that he could take on any degree of martial arts. Simply put, he told the director, "Martial Art's easy. Get me some blades and I'll show you some skill."

Of course, the director had been the latest victim of his charm, and did not note the demanding tone of his voice.

And yet, he was not pleased with himself for one thing- his inability to date his beloved Saber, and that resulted in a blooming romance with her and the Emiya boy. He wondered what she had seen in him. Yes, he had started to look like the powerful Archer in the 5th War, but nothing else. Gilgamesh amused himself as he thought that whereas he would be able to crush Berserker with a combination of Enkidu and Gates of Babylon, that Emiya still had a long way to go, even with his 'Reality Marble' or so they called it.

In fact, he was too drowned within his own confidence and pride that he failed to notice his shadow turning into a darker version of himself before it was too late. A full arsenal of blades was launched at him.

And yet, Gilgamesh had the agility similar to Saber, so he dodged that, although he did get a scratch on his arm. He looked at the shadow and yelled, "Hey! Who the [expletive hell are you?"

The eyes of the Dark Gilgamesh shone red with murderous contempt. With that said, Gilgamesh summoned Enuma Elish. Still, the Dark Gilgamesh expected it and used Enkidu to chain him up.

Gilgamesh, although entagled in his own weapon, summoned his full armour at this point on and shot Gates at the Dark Gilgamesh, who was forced to release his hold on the former.

Gilgamesh blasted a full Enuma Elish at the cursed imposter, but Dark Gilgamesh had a plan up his mind. An exact copy of Saber's Avalon was summoned and the blast was blasted back at him,with a shocked Gilgamesh taking the full brunt of his own attack, while Dark Gilgamesh risked nothing except a waste of mana. The power of a fully-charged Enuma Elish was certainly enough to knock its user all the way to the Tohsaka mansion.

As Gilgamesh slowly got up, his head bleeding, Rin appeared to have everyone in the whole house rush out to help. _Great... the last thing I need is a live demonstration on how I got trashed..._

Arturia seemed shocked by the darker version of himself and rushed forward to help. She summoned Excalibur and sent it rippling towards Dark Gilgamesh. However, the latter blasted Enuma Elish, which Arturia had dodge quickly.

Both Arturia and Gilgamesh closed in onto Dark Gilgamesh, but it seemed that the shadow manipulator had another trick up his sleeves. He summoned both Excalibur and Enuma Elish and blasted both of them, which combined itself to be a powerful energy that swept both combatants to the ground in an instant.

While it seemed that Gilgamesh was unable to battle, Arturia stood up uneasily as blood flowed from her forehead into her green eyes, while putting her hand behind to stop Shiro from interferring from the battle.

"Shiro, let me finish the battle."

Finally, he relented and added, "All right, Arturia. But if you are in any life-threatening danger, I'll take over."

Arturia nodded as she disappear in a flash and appeared behind Dark Gilgamesh. She delivered a blow of Invisible Air to him, which he barely blocked, and delivered a powerful flying kick towards him.

However, the kick seemed to land on nothing and Dark Gilgamesh appeared behind her, in a stunning speed, as well to grip onto her ankle.

Arturia cursed. This Gilgamesh is doing the exact same thing towards her. But this time, he left no space for retaliation.

Dark Gilgamesh gave a smirk and his red eyes shone again. He pointed a small dagger from the Gates at her neck, while everyone, including Arturia herself, watched nervously.

And all of a sudden, Gilgamesh stood up, blasted Gates at the darker version of himself, saying "Begone, foul being," before Dark Gilgamesh disappeared and returned to becoming his shadow.

Saber fell down but she managed to stand up with the help of Shiro.

Rin asked him about the shadow.

Then, with a nervous sigh, Gilgamesh recounted the whole progress of his battle with his shadow, while afterwards, Arturia admitted hers.

It was clear to say that the same being attacked them both. No surprises there. However, the surprise came when Caren and Avenger made a visit there themselves, without an escort or anything like that.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The crowd gathered, facing Caren. It seemed like an important occasion.

"Everyone, I have an announcement to make. Just a few moments ago, I have received news from the Burial Agency that a creation of a foul sorceress from a long time ago is roaming wild in these streets. As I believe, two of you have already been attacked."

Arturia and Gilgamesh nodded.

"This being utilises people's shadows and becomes into a darker version of the host. Thus to say, he copies your body and all your abilities. And he has been known to use them too."

The crowd listen attentively to the next bit. It seemed like a rather long suspense and climax to the speech.

"The being that you are facing is known as the Avatar of Eternity. History has it that during a long time ago in Egypt, female pharoah Cleopatra summoned this horrendous being from the depths of the earth to defeat her enemies. There was another summoned by Empress Wu Ze Tian of China, but it was vanquished by a man who managed to defeat it four times in succession.

"Throughout the history of the Avatar of Eternity, we tracked it and managed to set up a few of its rule of power. First of all, as mentioned earlier, he takes the form of a person through his or her shadow, and if there is no shadow there, the person in unable to be inflicted. However, you cannot hide your shadow unless you are in the shade, and this cannot do for long periods. Two, if anyone defeats it four times, it will disappear. Three, it randomly haunts people. Four, it is known to have produce resistance against attacks that worked against it before, simply put, a trick will not work twice. Five, if two people attack it together, it will improve twice its normal rate and the thing adds up for more people. Six, it regenerates with energy in the environment. Simply put, Mordred's powerful Excalibur revived it instantly."

The people were shocked at the power of the Avatar. No one could imagine a being so powerful that it has the ability to adapt to an enemy quickly and change its fighting style. Arturia and Gilgamesh passed uneasy glances at the people around them.

"And that is all. Do you have any questions?"

Silence. It was the first time that everyone were that silent. The uneasily tension between them simply caused Caren to walk away uneasily.

_If anything will rise up to the challenge of the group of eight servants in the fifth war, it will be this. Wait, where is the nineth servant? _

Caren rushed to the Ryoushouji Temple. Something was not quite right.

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A/N: A cliffy chapter. Nice? Well, just review.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4- Caster and the Paths of Fate

A/N: Was in a bit of rush of time, sorry. Busy with writing a 22-page proposal and a few more 10 page documents. :P...

---

Caren realised that she might have been too late to stop it, but as much as she gave up hope, it sprouted within her.

Just like her family's problem issues.

But this time, it was mostly her fault. Whereas, herself becoming an orphan a few moments after she was born was split between her mother and father, as much as she did not want to think of it anymore. But she found her father's abrupt visit and his grave news... the most disturbing.

The reason why she was very worried was that Caster did not come. Avenger was with her, so naturally he was there. There were six servants there, Gilgamesh, Saber, Archer, Lancer, Rider, Berserker. And Assassin was sprouting poetry while dining on fine wine nearby, so he had also heard the commotion.

But Caster was busy running her cafe every day, while her master was always home with her after their jobs, which explained that they would have known nothing about it.

Caren sighed again.

The Kuzuki couple, ever since they were married, were working hard to support their living. Both had extremely fruitful jobs, one opening a cafe for the comfort of the shoppers nearby, the other indulged into the young's education.

And yet, it seemed that they were going to die.

Caren dismissed the thoughts as she jumped above the rooftops to reach the Ryushouji Temple as quickly as possible.

But unknown to her, people were scrutinizing the place for the Avatar as well, and they seemed to have caught a glimpse of her journey.

---

Medea closed the door behind her as she walked inside the living room of her house.

What greeted her was a stunningly modern house, which was the opposite of the exterior of the house. The Temple itself was not renovated, as nobody these days would pray to the gods in this temple.

The renovation of the interior was a fifteen-year plan made by Souichiro-sama, who planned every exact detail of the finance involved like a genius, calculating the exact target value of their salary. And it was him alone who brought home most of the money, as the earnings made by the cafe were meagre to say the least.

As Medea removed her shoes, she had a weird feeling. Outside, the leaves were rustling loudly, and yet... there was not even a single breeze that she had sensed.

She shouted, "Who is there?"

A dark figure leapt forwards towards her at a phenomenal speed; she could see it but could not avoid it. She closed her eyes in anticipation of pain.

And yet, there was none whatsoever. But she did not feel numb either. As she slowly opened her eyes, she was relieved that there was nothing there. It had been an illusion, she determined, whether or not it seemed lifelike. Slowly, she caught her breath.

Medea turned around.

Her shock was jolted back into her. From her shadow, a figure of great menace was forming itself. In fact, to add to the fact that it felt very unnerving...

... it was an exact copy of her in her robes, albeit a little darker here and there.

But whether or not it was an exact copy of herself, it was not the real her. Medea summoned her territory, and proceeded to start the battle.

---

"That was certainly suspicious, especially for a cute priestess," Lancer stated as he followed Caren's steps quickly but stealthily. Soon, he found himself on the road towards a familiar place.

'As well as it might be then', Lancer thought, 'The Kuzukis should be warned of this... thing. It is simply too dangerous for anyone to attack now. Better help out before it is too late...'

He knew that the Avatar tended to target people with magical power who are alone. Souichiro was not even a threat to the Avatar as he was only skilled in assassination skills. Shiro might have trouble dealing with him before, but not now. And the old man is getting on his ages. Medea might be skilled, but after seeing how the thing nearly defeated both Gilgamesh and Saber in one go, he was convinced that both of them would not stand a chance against it after one of its reincarnations.

And worst of all, the Avatar is just adding weapons to its already impressive arsenal. He might as well Gae Bolg it immediately than it to go around being stronger even before it has even been killed, even though he hated the thought that the thing might gain resistance against him.

Although he did not like the second, he abhorred the first idea. And that was why he wanted to go and help. It would be of a higher chance that everyone work together and kill the being than to fight it separately.

'A higher chance is always the better option,' he determined, 'And that is the choice I will go through.'

---

"Uncle Shiro, what was it that attacked Aunty Arturia?"

"Yeah, dad, what was it that attacked mom?"

Sometimes Shiro really disliked Rin's plans. This time, she told him to... entertain the kids? There was a billion places in which he could be right now, and there is one in two chances that he would be engaged in combat with the thing right now. But to entertain and at the same time protect the kids? That was an insane use of a talent who could very well scout quickly and have a bird's eye view of the place.

But still, it didn't seem like Rin had forgotten that. After all, she had the privilege of using his future self as her servant...

She told him that the last thing she wanted was the kids in danger; that way, they could find the Avatar in ease. His eyes would serve an equally purposeful use of discovering its advance before it was too late. His quickly-reacting mind would create a strategy to proclaim victory, or it seemed, at least.

But Rin seemed to disregard all that. Maybe it was part of her plan. Maybe she really wanted the kids to be safe. But no one knew.

So right now, he will have to play along.

Shiro replied, "Well, Mother Ortensia said that the monster likes to eat people with hungry stomachs. Well, you see, the reason why Aunty Arturia went to Aunty Rin's house on an empty stomach was because she wanted to see you two in action. You know how she hates having empty stomachs. But instead, she was attacked by the evil monster. And when she defeated one of its forms, it went to pursue Uncle Gilgamesh, who was rushing towards a food court in the rain."

"Wow..." was what Mordred could only say. But Eriol had something else to say.

"Then, how do you explain it taking the shadows of other people?"

'Damn, haven't expected Eriol to become so smart all of a sudden,' he thought, as he quickly made up, "Well, you heard about the rule of replication, right? It is stated that this rule is useless against people who are at 100, but lethal to people who have already been injured or are recovering from wounds, right?"

The duo nodded before he continued.

"Well, since Aunty Arturia and Uncle Gilgamesh had empty stomachs when they were fighting the thing, naturally, the energy they can use to fight the thing has been reduced and the attack power of their weapons have been compromised."

Eriol seemed suspicious of him for a while, eyeing him carefully, but afterwards, he sighed and continued, "Alright, I believe you, Uncle Shiro..." And he crossed his arms.

'Just like Rin,' Shiro thought, 'just like Rin.'

And he looked up at the clock. 12 noon. It certainly would not even take persuasion for them to eat their food.

Shiro got up. "Kids, so what is the moral of the story?"

Eriol answered nonchalantly, "Do not fight on an empty stomach."

"Good, now go and eat before the monster gets you!" Shiro replied.

The children scurried off immediately to quickly engulf the food that was prepared for them.

"Hmm... I might actually like this plan after all," Shiro muttered to himself as he went up to his room and sat on the grey couch. "But then, I am not in favour of being left out like this."

He was focusing his sight on an interesting bit of greenery on the outskirts of the city. 'Must be the Ryoushouji Temple,' he realised. Then, a large puff of black smoke rushed out of the greenery like a volcanic eruption.

Without much thinking, he dashed down the stairs and yelled to the two children, "Kids, looks like something unexpected cropped up. Gotta go! Look after yourselves!"

---

When Shiro rushed out of the door, Mordred asked, "What was that all about?"

"Didn't you sense the explosion at Aunty Caster's house?" Eriol replied.

"No. Did you forget that I am only capable to elementary magic?"

"Right, I forgot you were only capable of that much magic."

As expected, Eriol received a powerful punch from Mordred. However, from any outsider's view, it seemed not such a hard punch, but the expression on the victim stated otherwise.

Wincing in pain, Eriol cried, "What was that for?"

"For being an insensitive jerk."

The moment she raised her eyebrows, Eriol could not help but obey. The anger in her eyes quelled the last of Eriol's rebelling mind into a submissive state. He promptly raised a white flag in defeat.

Mordred sighed. As much as she did not like to resort to violence as her mother, she felt the need to bash Eriol up sometimes.

'At least father wasn't as smart-mouthed as him,' she thought as she calmly sipped down a bit of tea.

---

Souichiro Kuzuki was changing into one of his causal suits to wear at night. But an explosion prompted him to rush outside as soon as he finished dressing up.

To his shock, he found his wife lying on the floor in an endless pool of blood among a graveyard of blades. The scene was... horrendous. Her robes were cut open in many areas, and it soon gained a red colour...

Souichiro rushed over to his wife. She was only unconscious, to his joy, but her pulse was fading. It was then that he noticed a robed-figure standing by the window.

"Mother Caren..."

Caren Ortensia immediately applied her magic, which started to heal the injured Caster-class servant.

"Looks like Medea-san has defeated the thing that attacked by herself. That is an achievement in itself, as it took both Gilgamesh and Saber to do the same last time. And at that time it was weaker," she stated, while Souichiro nodded.

"What is the thing that attacked them?"

Caren sighed and replied, "Wait for Medea-san to awake first before I tell you of the details."

---

Lancer watched as Caren apply the healing magic into Caster. However, something made him uneasy.

Just then, a shadow of Caren herself materialised into living, manifesting on the power of the healing power. The dark being came to resemble Caren in a few ways, but the rest was clearly making her look like a monster. Although Dark Caren did not have the evil grin that all the other servants infected have, her eyes were crimson red, her hair was polluted with a tinge of black and her skin was paler.

Out of the blue, Lancer muttered, "Shoot, knew something like that was coming."

Caren drew out her Magdala, while Dark Caren did the same. However, Dark Caren's version seemed to have the very design of Rule Breaker design on it. There was no need to guess what added effect the thing had.

Soon, Caren and Dark Caren did some battles, but after a few rounds, it was apparent that Caren was in the losing side. So Lancer barged in and killed the Avatar with one use of Gae Bolg.

Dark Caren withered and slowly disintegrated into Caren's shadow again. However, Caren seemed crossed that someone had intervened with her fight.

"Geez, sorry, Ortensia. You were getting your butt kicked back there."

Finally, Caren relented. She put on a cold front and spoke.

"Avenger and Lancer, please summon all the servants and masters. This time, include the children."

By the looks on her face, this time was she was dead serious.

When the two servants were gone, Caren muttered, "The threat must be annihilated immediately to ensure to no more innocent people lose their lives."

---

A/N: End of Chapter 4. Now, here is a twist to the story.

The plot will now split into two parts, like the Fate game. However, I will update one scenario first, known as 'Bonds of Two'. Warning for this scenario: Character Deaths (to quite a large extent).

And the second scenario, the 'Happy Ending' scenario, will be a similar to Scenario 1, but there will be no character deaths.

Of course both involve the defeat of the Avatar, so both are quite happy endings.

Pls send your comments and reviews on this decision and the story. Thanks.


	5. Chapter 5 Scenario 1

Scenario: Bonds of Two

Chapter 5: Ilyasviel and Berserker

---

"Berserker, do you see anything around?"

"..."

"Hmm... alright then," Ilyasviel sighed. Her search for the Avatar had gone on for quite a while, even bringing her to the steps of a temple. Back then, both she and Berserker had seen black clouds arising from this place.

She jumped down from Berserker's shoulder without any trouble. Just then, as she took that one step down, flashes of the last fifteen years came in life...

_The day she had seen a ring on Arturia's finger... leading to the day they were married..._

_... they seemed so happy..._

_... as much as she loved her 'Onii-chan', she had doubted he and Arturia were happy..._

_And Rin(-oneechan)... having the same __amount__ of depression of she had when she had seen the ring too..._

_...for once, Ilya thought, there was someone she could relate to..._

_But how wrong she was... _

_At the same time as Arturia delivering her baby girl, Rin herself had gone down to her private magical laboratory and created something that she had not wanted to see..._

She took a long time to get accustomed to those facts. But eventually, after eight years of living with people, she had become accustomed to the facts of true life. Why Shiro and Arturia would marry, was something she had realised just yet.

But no one could blame her. Ilyasviel, although 32 years of age now, still has the same mindset as a 16-year-old, and when Shiro and Arturia were married, 10. She had not felt the tender emotions of true love...

She only had a crush on him.

It was one of those facts that people would eventually get over with during their lives; their crush walking away with another person. However, Ilyasviel would require twice the amount of time a normal person would to get over with it.

She walked towards the front of the temple, with Heracles following closely behind her wake.

As she took each step, she was pondering on why Rin would have gone such a great step to relieve herself of her source of misdirected misery and heartache.

'Misdirected misery and heartache,' she thought, 'how peculiar such a phrasing of words...'

-----

As she entered the temple, she had been told that the Avatar had been slaughtered twice in the same very grounds. However, before she had fully absorbed what she was listening, she knew something was wrong. Again.

A tainted presence was forming out her Berserker-class' shadow. Even though Caren had told them everything about the Avatar's method of attacking its enemies, it was still quite frightening to see it on real life, especially if it was the first time one had seen it.

"Shoot. Heracles' berserk aura shoots out a pool of mana every second. And of course, the Avatar just had to utilize it to go into battle again," Lancer said.

Cuchulainn leapt towards the Avatar, with Gae Bolg in his hand. However, with a powerful thrust of her arm, Ilyasviel raised her palm to stop the Lancer-class servant.

"This battle is Berserker's and mine. Since we started it, we will finish it."

With an almighty battle roar, Heracles charged towards the Avatar, with his large battle axe ready to strike. But the Avatar, who seemed to have already learnt the secrets of Gae Bolg, delivered a powerful punch towards the Berserker-class that seemed to happen before it could be seen.

Heracles flinched in agony, but immediately regained his footing and threw the axe like a boomerang towards the Avatar. However, the Avatar summoned an even more powerful Magdala, which seemed to have the powers of both Enuma Elish and Rule Breaker now, and used it to wrap and completely shatter the powerful battle axe.

The Berserker-class is now weapon-less.

The Avatar was closing in towards him. Heracles also charged at him, using his bare fists as a last resort. Despite how much the Avatar threw him off balance with his punches, Heracles stood ready to launch the decisive blow onto him.

The very technique known as the 'Shooting Hundred Heads'. For Ilyasviel, as if preparing for a final battle, lifted the Berserk control over her servant.

Heracles did not like the looks of it. Many servants over past wars have been lifted of their Berserk powers, but that meant one thing in sacrifice from their masters...

His very sanity has been restored, but Ilya's life force is draining. The tremendous power needed to control a Berserker-class servant had already been considered nearly impossible; furthermore, Heracles was an exceptionally powerful Berserker-class. The mana needed to supply him would be... unimaginable.

And to restore Heracles' sanity like that would require even more mana from now on. However, the vast amount of energy needed to supply him was simply out of Ilya's means.

So why was she doing this?

He had crossed times, ages and lands as much as many servants. Yet he did not feel and love and sympathy like all the other servants. Everywhere he had gone, people had been known to respect him and look to him in awe.

But he realised, they were all scared of the gargantuan monster in front of them.

For a mere second, he concluded that nobody had loved him. But just then, a warm, foreign yet familiar feeling slowly flowed into his heart.

It might have been an effect of the Berserk lift, but Heracles knew what it was.

He had the same feeling for his father. He had the same feeling for his wife and children, who have all been brutally murdered by him.

And then, he felt another familiar surge of emotions. This time, the same as the Berserk control was sucking him into...

During his time as 'Berserker', the constant surge of pain and suffering came from the dark abyss. It spread out such powerful magic that he was unable to make any thoughts at all during battle. He would be inclined to fight harder and win impossible battles...

But Ilyasviel had never tapped into that power, not even when the contract was formed. During her childhood, she might have ordered him around quite a lot of times- but...

That was all related to battles and honour. Even though she had been known to use magic to abduct masters, she did not harm her hostage in any way. If anyone had observed her closely, she was even more honourable than Tohsaka Rin would ever be. And about her maniac-ish ways of killing, it was the basic fact of life. To kill or be killed. The struggle of creatures to evolve to the top. Predators and prey. In fact, she was abiding by the basic laws of survival, not the moral laws of human civilisation.

And that could only simply arise from her brutal childhood. If it could even be considered one. She was treated like a slave outside of human civilisation. No one had shown her true love and care. Every day, it was a struggle for life and death.

During her life in the Einzbern castle in Germany, after both Kiritsugu and Irisviel vanished, she was brought in by her great-great-great grandmother to live with her. But it was only there that she realised that a brutal regime had been set up for her, to train her for the 5th Holy Grail War...

It was then that he was struck by the thought of the feeling he had felt all this time.

It was a pain and suffering... but to a different form altogether.

Love.

It all made sense to him why his family could have run away from him but did not. It all made sense to him why he loved them back. It all made sense to him why he had treated Ilyasviel well and vice versa.

With an extremely powerful mana surge, the Berserk shroud around him finally dissolved, turning his past grey self into an ever-radiant true form. Everyone gasped in awe at him.

It was apparent.

Heracles has returned.

He immediately dodged the Avatar's powerful attacks without a sweat and delivered a powerful uppercut attack that fused Ilya's mana with him own and totally crushed the Avatar in one swipe.

The Avatar, although weakened, was still capable of putting up a good fight. Within an instant, he summoned Gae Bolg used its ancient powers to kill Heracles.

But Heracles also had his own bag of tricks.

"Nine Lives- The Shooting Hundred Heads!"

Thousands of arrows flew out from his hand and it only took several of them to knock the spear off-course. The Avatar was impaled by the arrows and immediately ceased to exist.

However, the only problem now is Ilyasviel. Ever since the few seconds she had lifted the Berserk control, she had lost consciousness and is now in a heap on the floor.

Heracles immediately scooped her up into her arms and rushed towards the Tohsaka Mansion. The others immediately followed while Caren stayed to nurse Caren. However, none of them saw the black puddle appearing out of nowhere and a black droplet jumping on top of Ilyasviel.

The Avatar has evolved.

A/N: Very short chapter featuring the IlyaXBerserker relationship, and here are some Avalon jokes to brighten your day.

Archer

Rin stepped into Avalon. The first thing she had seen was her old crush, Archer.

"Archer, is that you?"

The servant nodded his head. Just then, another familiar figure stepped behind her.

"Shiro?"

The other guy nodded his head.

Rin was then puzzled and inspected both of them closely.

"Wow guys, I didn't know how alike you two are."

The two replied, "Geez, thanks, Tohsaka Rin. Haven't you realised by now we are the same person?"

Dad, Mom and Stepbrother?

Ilyasviel entered Avalon. Just then, she saw Kiritsugu and Irisviel waiting for her.

"Hi, sweetie. How was the other side?" Irisviel asked her daughter eagerly.

"So fun. But I'm really glad I will not die of old age," Ilyasviel said.

"By the way, have you seen my son? The last time I saw him, he was wooing another English girl. Gah... the cheeks," Kiritsugu asked.

Ilyasviel immediately shrieked out, "No... you mean that Shiro is your adopted son?"

"Ilya, how did you..."

"No! All this time, I was having a crush on my lost brother? No!"

Ilyasviel's descent into madness was all because of Kiritsugu being kind enough to save Shiro. How ironic and sad.

A/N: Please read and review!


	6. Chapter 6 Scenario 1

Scenario: Bonds of Two

Chapter 6: Lancer and Bazette (I)

--

_I woke up one day to find myself in the apartment which I had rented during the war. _

"_Yo, you are awake?" _

_I turned to find my him playing a sliding puzzle. A simple sliding puzzle with 15 grids. It was just a simple game, and yet, he could derive enjoyment out of it for so long that it amazes me._

"_How long was I out cold?" I asked._

"_Just three days," he replied nonchalantly, "I have seen worse." His hands were still fiddling with the puzzle, shifting each of the grids from one place to another. _

_I smiled. Somehow, I knew, this time, the servant that I had summoned is with me. Dreams of summoning another servant had filled my mind since the time it was pitch black. _

"_How have you been, Bazette?" A voice behind me spoke._

_I turned around to find a woman in black robes observing me rather anxiously. Ah, she must be the one who nursed me back to health. _

"_I am fine, thank you. And you are?"_

"_Caren. Caren Ortensia." She smiled in her reply. I could not help but to smile in return as well. _

_From that day on, my new life was about to start, but everything was the same._

--

How long had it been since that day? I do not remember. How far have I gone since that day? I have no means of finding. And yet, I know that I have had no regrets of my decision to stay since that day.

Slowly, but steadily, I have put my past as a Magi behind me. At first, the Association summoned their subordinates to spy on me and report on my location. Relying on the instincts I have obtained during the training of a Magi, I managed to hide from the Association's prying eyes, but barely.

Nevertheless, I knew that I could count on him at the most critical of times, and I was right. Other than the time that I had my hand slashed away by Kotomine (if it counted), he had never let me down.

With much skill, and perhaps luck, I could shake off the spies most of the time. When they managed to find me, he made sure that the spies would move in and never come out. It was a wonder that the Association did not investigate the disappearance of their subordinates; perhaps, they knew the risks involved. And thus, after a while, the spies stopped coming. And yet, even after fifteen years, I am still on the alert for them.

Even though Edward had gotten into the Association one year ago, the Association seemed to have not found the link between Edward and me. Perhaps they have forgotten all about the existence of Bazette Frega McRemitz, and instead, decided to explore the other wonders of the world, like Undead Apostles.



It is not to say, that I am lamenting their decision. In fact, if I were in their shoes, this would probably be the wiser choice of action, even though you could say that I am the one on one extreme end of the line in biasness, as I would not want to choose to be discovered. However, right now, I realize, I might require their help more than ever.

Ever since Caren had announced the existence of this Avatar, I have been thinking and clearing my own doubts. I have confirmed from Avenger that whatever Caren had said was absolutely true, as it was fact files from the Association passed to her by Kotomine. And from the battles of Gilgamesh and Arturia, the patterns established in the fact file were likely to be true- no definite falsities have been discovered yet.

And Caren had kindly pleaded us to help her find the Kuzukis. So far, Lancer and I had no luck. Speaking of which, where is Lancer?

Darn, I remembered. He told me that he saw something and went ahead. Perhaps I should personally do boxing exercises when he gets back. Or not, as I remembered how much he helped me so far. But then, one should not leave a damsel in distress alone. No, I think not.

It was then that I saw Avenger floating around as usual.

"Please go to the Ryoushouji Temple. Can you tell Edward as well?"

That was all he said, before he flew recklessly to probably either Arturia or Rin. Why recklessly? Due to the fact that he bumped into a tree after he attempted flying away from me. This resulted in an expletive being yelled before he continued his journey.

Sigh. Even though I have been with him for quite a while, I still do not fully understand him.

But I realized that I need to focus at the task at hand. While running towards the Temple, I whipped out my cellphone and called Edward. Sometimes, the nuances of everyday technology sure beat traditional methods.

And it was then that I realized that Avenger had not told me to tell Lancer. Ah, probably because he was already there. Flirting with Mother Ortensia. Now, maybe it is time for him to my personal punching bag?

--

Mordred and Eriol have finished their lunch and were playing the computer in the Tohsaka Mansion.

"Hmm? What is this game? It looks creepy…" Mordred asked timidly. Eriol saw his chance to scare his friend, and seized it…

"Oh, it is a first person shooting game in which the main character explores a haunted mansion. It is a very creepy game which keeps the player on his toes. For example, if he fails to turn around every other second, the monsters will come out… and…"

"BOO!" He gave her the fright of her life.

"Kyaa…" she cried, eyes on the verge of tearing, pointing at him.

"Haha, scared? Relax, it was just me," he said reassuringly.

"No! Look behind!" She exclaimed.

It sent a chill down his spine, and a drop of sweat down his head as he slowly turned around…

It was nothing. Just a black screen.

Amused, Eriol was on the verge of laughing out loud, when…



"BOO."

An absolutely most grotesque face literally popped out of the computer screen, he could have sworn. Right now, Eriol fell from his chair in shock and yelled "AVATAR!" before blasting four fireballs at the face.

Which turned out to be that of Avenger's.

"Ow, that hurt ye know," he muttered, as he walked out of the computer, charred face. As you all probably know, Avenger does not have a fixed form and he frequently uses this ability to… scare people at the most random of times. However, he does have his weaknesses. One, he fails rather miserably in putting on the act after the victim retaliates. Two, he always pick the wrong people to do this on.

"Kids, you know you should not play with fire," he said, before he added, "Never mind. Anyway, where is your uncle Shiro, Eriol?"

Eriol stood up and replied enthusiastically, "He went out in a rush during our lunch time."

Avenger stifled a laugh and stated, "Hoho, something really interesting will come out of him and Rin and Arturia very soon. Right now, you kiddies will have a rollercoaster ride. Strap on your seatbelts, there is a hundred percent chance that you might need it." Of course, Avenger spoke of the last part in a really sour tone.

--

After everyone received the news of a second gathering ordered by Caren within a day, they all met at the Ryoushouji Temple, with the exception of Sakura, who was tending to Ilya's current state.

Avenger arrived later, all sore with bruises and bumps, and his "passengers" all dizzy from the ride. Thus it was no wonder that the first few minutes of the meeting were spent on an argument between Shiro and Arturia and Rin (mainly Shiro and Rin).

When things settled down, Caren began to address her audience.

"Dear friends,

"During the short intermediate lapse of time between the first and second address, there have already been three confirmed cases of the Avatar's dangerous attacks upon people. Thus, I have to proceed to implement desperate measures.

"Since the last attack, the Avatar has mysteriously disappeared. At the scene where it was last defeated, I applied healing magic upon the victims, but it failed to regenerate. I suspect that this could only mean a very dire situation.

"It seems that the Avatar has evolved. There are two branches in which it can evolve to, from the Magus Association's studies. The initial stage of an Avatar comes from the spell it is formed from. That stage, it is the most vulnerable. Any physical damage that it takes will immediately dispel the threat. Then there is Fetal Stage, where it will be able to absorb enemies' form and skills when it defeats them.

"Then it will be at the Adolescence Stage, where it will absorb enemies' form when they are defeated, but die off when an enemy kills it four times. Then, it is at the Adult Stage, which is probably where the Avatar is at. It will be unable to respawn, but it will take control of someone's body and slowly absorb its mana until it dies. The only way to quell that stage is to find the target and cast de-buffs, which will cause it to revert to Adolescence Stage. If left unnoticed, the Avatar will enter the final stage, which is Old Sage Stage, where it will fix one ultimate form and begin to unleash all the powers it had gathered during its lifetime.

"Or similarly, from the Adolescence Stage, it can attempt a more powerful path of ascension. It will enter the Whirlpool Period, when it will lay dormant to absorb mana from the surroundings, or by making a droplet of its own mana to a host which passes by. By the time it feels it is ready to ascend to the next stage, it will suck up its hosts together and convert their life force into mana droplets, and they come back to the place where it laid dormant like a whirlpool of mana. If someone casts de-buffs then the droplet will be dispelled off the host and granted useless. If left unnoticed, it erupts into the Ragnarok Stage, which is when things get really tough to handle. Someone would still have to defeat such a being four times, and it is no easy feat, as it can alternate between forms. If it so happen that it becomes powerful enough to reach that form, it can gather mana from a radius of 2000 km, and that is a pretty large area…

"Thus, for the next few days, I would require you all to help in patrolling around the town at night at various locations. Bazett and Lancer's shift will start today, at the Ryoushouji Temple. Sakura and Rider's will start tomorrow, at the area of the forest behind the Academy. The details will be provided in this schedule list. Everyone here, please take a copy."

--

Meanwhile, back at the mansion, Ilyasviel was running on a high fever. One could hear how badly this was affecting her. Throughout this whole time, she had difficult time breathing. Her face, now red and perhaps, paler than ever before, was showing the various signs of the struggle of pain she was going through, even though she was nowhere near awake.

Sakura winced whenever Ilya groaned. To her, Ilyasviel had been a little sister to her (even if she was a cheeky one) since she was 15, and she had remained until now. Despite her mischievous antics, and being the target of her jokes herself sometimes, Sakura still knew that deep down, she just needed someone to love her in replacement of those ten, no, twenty years of solitude in the Einzbern Castle.

"Onii-chan…" Ilya muttered in her sleep.

Sakura smiled for a while. She remembered the years she used to call for her oneechan like that, under the roof of the Matou house. When the War came, she managed to regain her lost relationship with her older sister, but she barely managed to do so. She knew that her older sister had provided her with love and care during the times in which their relationship began to heal.

Oh those tough years. A lot happened during that time. After the servants somehow managed to stay after the Holy Grail War, Shiro had a few financial burdens on his back, especially the ever-hungry Arturia, who would always demand him for some food every hour or so. Luckily she has managed to put her cravings in control, or else, they might have been bankrupt by now!

Other than that, there was a lot of romantic advances towards each other. Medea and Mr Kuzuki were the first to marry, followed by Bazett and CuChulainn. A lot of proposals were pressed towards the way of Shiro and Saber, but their love pulled through, seeing them marry a few years after Bazett and CuChulainn.

But for her sister Rin, he did not return. Rather, it seemed that the job of a Counter GARdian would bind him to Akasha until the end of Gaia's existence. Sakura remembered how her older sister had shut herself in her room for months without end, waiting for a time which would never exist in this parallel. But it marked the time in which she should go to comfort her. After a few hours of talking and consolation, she reluctantly let go. But then, it was just a few weeks before she realized that her sister was pregnant, and eventually gave birth, a child who seemed to have no father…

Nonetheless, Sakura now felt the very same willingness to help Ilyasviel confront her inner battle, the battle which could only be won inside of her; yet, she knew that whatever could happen outside had a chance of affecting something inside.

She was ready to care for Ilyasviel like an older sister, just like her own older sister had done to her all this time.

--

A/N: Sorry for the long hiatus. Haha. Gone off to watch more anime and read more manga, and even more fanfiction. From now on, hiatus might be a bit long, but eventually a new chapter will surface itself. Currently, I will try to update School Days and Fate/Future Reality and finish them, as those are the works I have more inspiration in. (Still waiting to show out that scene in this fic, but that will have to go later.)

And here is a preview:

Chapter 7: Lancer and Bazett (II)

"_Lancer, did you hear something? LOOK OUT!" _

_The large knife which was aimed for Lancer had found its target in her instead. Her chest that was. Lancer could only watch as the woman he loved was struck repeatedly by bullets and knifes in a desperate attempt to protect him._

……

"_Sakura, since this afternoon, I have sensed various strange signatures of energy in this mansion. Furthermore, as of late, even more of those strange signatures of energy are moving towards our position."_

_Just then, a pair of vile red eyes appeared from behind them._

……

_The place was falling apart. The mansion which was home to Rin Tohsaka was no more._

_Quivering, she wailed into the sky basked by the crimson moon._

"_Sakura… Rider… Ilya…"_

_While under the rubble, the Servant was spending his last moment with his master…_

--

A/N: That's all folks.


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